Table tennis played on a hard table divided by a net. It is about hitting a lightweight hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. It is played indoors with thick wooden or composite wood, plastic and even metal varieties table. The surface of the table should have a matt finish and it is usually dark green or blue. The racket consists of two parts: the rubbers and the blade. There are a lot of different kinds of rubbers and blades. There are offensive, all-round and defensive ones. The player style will dictate the kind of racket to use.
Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions. A skilled player can impart several varieties of spin to the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent's option to great advantage.
A game is won by the first player or pair (in doubles play) to score 11 points, unless the score reaches 10-10 in which the player or the pair needs two clear points more than the other in order to win the game. A match consists of the best of three games or in big tournaments, like World & European Championships, the best of five games or best of seven.
A good return is a single hit of the ball by the racket hand below the wrist, after it has bounced on the player's side of the table, so that the ball returns directly on the opponent's side. Of course, the ball is permitted to hit the net during the return.
However if the ball hits the net during the serve, the serve is executed again.
Because of its deceptive simplicity most of the people who have played table tennis tend to take it lightly. However excellence requires a mastery of a variety of factors. For example there are a variety of technical strokes and spins which make the game more exciting but more difficult to play.
In a typical game of table tennis, the rallies would frequently end in the smash type of shot. This is actually the counterpart of the spike in volleyball, the dunk in basketball, as well as the smash in lawn tennis itself. The smash is that one shot that can easily put away the whole game. It takes practice and skill to master the smash. But if you want to master the game of table tennis, then this is indeed one shot that you should learn. You should also learn to defend yourself in the event that your opponent would be performing smash shots as well.
The table tennis governing body is ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation), founded in 1926. Currently ITTF includes 210 member associations. The table tennis official rules are specified in ITTF handbook. Since 1988, table tennis has been an Olympic sport, with several event categories. In particular, from 1988 until 2004, these were: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Since 2008 the doubles have been replaced by the team events.
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